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Henry Lohtz (Cataclysmic Gerosha)
|image= |caption=Henry sails the Atlantic. |publisher=Dozerfleet Comics |creators=David Stiefel |baseofoperations=Mobile }} Captain Henry Lohtz is a pirate in The Gerosha Chronicles of Dozerfleet Comics. He is the main character in Lohtz, which chronicles how he discovered the Gerosha Stone that would later fall into the possession of Stan and Shalia Flippo. Skills * Keen knowledge of the Marlquaan and of ruby trades * Leadership Equipment * Musket * Pistol * Pirate sword Character bio Born in Wales in 1751, Henry and his family moved to Pennsylvania in 1757. He was recruited to the front lines of the French and Indian War, in spite being a small boy; but his family was converted to the Order of the Oraphim and its mission to keep Marlquaan power away from those they felt God would deem unworthy - namely, the Society of the Icy Finger. He was allowed honorable discharge from military service in 1761 at the age of 10, when a new flag-bearer was chosen. He joined a venture crew of the Order under Captain Orville Hembington, masquerading as innocent trade merchants. In 1768, however, their crew discovered that a British officer set to collect taxes off their sales, Theodore Micket, was actually an Icy Finger spy looking for their Marlquaan ruby stashes. Micket set an ambush for Hembington's crew near Mozambique, killing Micket and forcing Lohtz to assume leadership of the surviving merchants. They found a cave wherein which they could hide an untold number of rubies, and the crew did reconnaissance of the area to set a trap for Micket and his crew. The failure of Micket to return to England with tax revenue resulted in George III inquiring as to why, and his counselors concluded that Hembington's crew had gone rogue. Due to his strong leadership potential, the surviving crew declared Lohtz their new captain. Realizing that Micket's death made them outlaws, the crew took to using their newfound reputation as pirates as a new cover for their true mission. In 1770, Lohtz and his crew rescued a Chinese man from slavery in Morocco, when his master gained a Marlquaanite ruby and went insane upon becoming a fire elemental. Lohtz and company took in Shing Mang Zhu as part of their ship crew, in spite knowing he was too badly beaten to be good for much other than to serve as a lookout. Shing became a close friend of Lohtz's, often having deep religious and philosophical discussions. "Always live beneath your means" and "Pulverize Perversion Persistently," some of Shing's sayings while discussing mattes with Lohtz, became mantras that would later be adopted by the Flippo family. Shing didn't live for very long in 1771, contracting pneumonia while rumors spread that there were at least two Marlquaanite rubies to be found in Hawaii. A dying Shing spoke and wrote to Lohtz to never forget what should be most ideal: "这本书有什么" (translation: "What this book Bible has.") Due to how it sounded to Captain Lohtz phonetically, the message of "Zhè běn shū yǒu shé me" was misinterpreted as "Zhe ro sha, you, she, me." Lohtz took the "Zhe-ro-sha Ideal," and further bastardized its spelling to the "Gerosha Ideal," stating: "Gerosha, for you, for her, and for me." He interpreted Shing's words to mean that a place should one day exist to embody Shing's Christian ideals - a place that would be called "Gerosha." Lohtz and his remaining crew discovered that the Coin Tosser's Ruby, Seafarer's Stomping Ruby, and an unstable Linguist's Ruby were all discovered by Hawaiian natives loyal to Kamehameha I during a civil war preceding the official founding of the Kingdom of Hawaii. Experimenting with some of the unstable Marlquaanite rubies that he'd previously used to create Qalupaliks with to terrorize the Eskimos into giving away ruby locations, Icy Finger operative Roger Loviar finally deploys the unstable Linguist's ruby to force the natives to understand English, so he can communicate with them more effectively. Lohtz and his men discover this, and notice that Kamehameha and his men are overtaken and held hostage by Loviar - except for an escaped Pakulihi Lekaho. Paku introduces himself to Lohtz and the crew, and forms a plan with them to rescue the king. However, things go awry. The Coin Tosser's Ruby goes missing, and Lohtz's crew mate John Webertin inadvertently destroys the Seafarer's Stomping Ruby by letting it get too close to a shattering mirror. Paku and Loviar both bond, and both become wereshark animal imitators with slightly different abilities. While Paku can control native sharks, Loviar can transform his men into shark-man-like mindless killing machines. More experienced in combat but less powerful overall, Paku vows to protect the natives from what Loviar has become. Lohtz and his crew share their knowledge and spiritual beliefs with Kamehameha and his rescued men when Loviar and his men retreat. In turn, Kamehameha informs Lohtz and his crew that the islanders believe Paku and Loviar have become the shark gods of Hawaii: Kamohoalii and Ukupanipo, respectively. Lohtz and company had inadvertently instigated the War of the Sharks. Lohtz urges Paku to consider a higher God in the mix at all times, explaining what he and his crew know of the Marlquaan as well - and introduce him to the Order and its ideology. Paku vows to think things over, but is not immediately converted to Christianity. After some intense showdowns, however, Loviar is defeated - with only one crew member of his escaping successfully to inform his superiors back in England the bad news. Paku is declared officially the avatar of Kamohoalii, and is utilized by Kamehameha to win the greater war and unite Hawaii. As a reward, Lohtz uses up another Linguist's Ruby to reverse the first one's effects, restoring inability of Lohtz and the Hawaiian natives to instantly understand each other's words. Paku, however, commits himself to retaining knowledge of the English language - as it could prove useful later. He is allowed to retire from military service after the war, and chooses a solitary life. Paku would eventually become a full convert and Order member - after witnessing the demons posing as Nightmarchers suffer a brutal defeat at the hands of Cherinob - whom only God could've sent. After two more years of struggles, Lohtz and his crew set back the Icy Finger's plans dramatically, forcing their cabinet to find new strategies and also to hide from the British crown. They acquire fortunes amounting to trillions in modern American money, with Lohtz burying much of his treasure in a hidden location near what would one day become Cocoa Beach in Florida. He kept a journal full of clues about where to find the treasure, trusting only a few with its location. That journal would eventually find its way into the hands of a certain Tobey Flippo, who would make it his lifelong mission to find the treasure. Along the way, Lohtz found a strange-looking seashell along Cocoa Beach, adding it to his hidden treasure and completing it in 1773. He prayed that only one worthy of embodying the Gerosha Ideal would find the Gerosha Treasure, and use it to found Gerosha as a city. The seashell bore a strange carving in it, as if made by a lightning whelk. It appeared to be the top half of a shell originally belonging to a mollusk native to the waters near France. The carving he saw on one side of the shell appeared to form a letter "G," hence he called it the Gerosha Stone. He assigned several virtues to the stone based on what it symbolized to him from his own life. It is uncertain what became of Lohtz after sealing the Gerosha Stone in his cave with the other treasures. Some say here "merely vanished." What is known, is that Stan Flippo eventually found the treasure. It was used for a variety of things, including construction of the Triangulum and the re-forming of the Phaelite Society of Earth into SCALLOP. Personality In spite being forced into a life of piracy, Lohtz is very particular about his ethics. He is also known to be a cheery optimist, wanting to see the good side of everything. However, he learns not to be too trusting after being betrayed by Micket. He makes sure to share enough of his treasure with his tightly-held-together crew, that he is able to avoid the mutiny and other problems that are a routine threat for other pirate captains. He also trains his men in banking, seeking to limit how often they actually engage in direct looting. Development Lohtz was first referenced in the first chapter of Ciem: Vigilante Centipede dubbed "20,000 Legs into the Backstory." It was decided that if the town of Gerosha were named after the seashell in Stan's possession, then that seashell and associated treasure had to come from somewhere. Henry Lohtz was created as a pirate character to give backstory to how the Gerosha Stone became part of Stan and Shalia's treasure. It was seen as a possible more-serious version of Pirates of the Caribbean, allowing at least one pirate tale to be a part of The Gerosha Chronicles. Lohtz's story Wealth of a Seashell was first proposed in late 2010 as part of Comprehensive Gerosha, and was later moved into Cataclysmic Gerosha in late 2012. It became part of the Origins and Fallout volume, which would set the stage for building a framework that other titles in the collection could revolve around. Lohtz's history is most relevant to Experiments and Offspring, When Tobey Met Alison, and The Battle for Gerosha. In spite happening only a century after the events in A So-Called Heretic, events in Wealth of a Seashell have almost nothing directly to do with that story. However, the Gerosha Stone's value is ranked second place, right after Hester's locket, due to its symbolic value. It is in the Sodality of Gerosha and the series Sodality that the legacies of both John Domeck and Henry Lohtz come together, as Ciem and the Gray Champion are on the same team for the first time. See also * Lohtz (story) * Pakulihi Lekaho (Cataclysmic Gerosha) * Gerosha Stone